Gloryful are a new, traditional Metal band from Germany on the Massacre label. That’s pretty much all you need to know. I’m almost tempted to stop this review right here, because experienced listeners and fans of Metal already have all the information to make an informed decision; German, Traditional Metal, Massacre Records, Gloryful. You see? Six words. Just go buy it and you will not be disappointed.

If you are not sold already I will give you a bit more to work with. To begin with, any band that names itself GLORYFUL just has to be glorious. Look at the undefeated track record of bands with something ‘glory’ in their name; Highland Glory, Vainglory, Gloryhammer, Crimson Glory… having ‘glory’ in your name will almost guarantee your band will kick ass. Gloryful is no exception. Other highlights are the fact that Kris Verwimp does the album cover art and Dan Swano produced the album, so every extra detail is in place to assure that the band will be awesome. OCEAN BLADE is the quintet’s second full-length album. While it maybe not a concept album in the purest sense, there is a very strong thematic element running through it, a tale of ocean going adventure with a crew sailing to wage battle with an unearthly creature.

If all that is still not enough to convince you to go do a ‘blind buy’ of OCEAN BLADE, the fact is the songs and performances are very enjoyable. It’s extremely rare that I won’t really discuss the actual music or sound at all in a music review but OCEAN BLADE is just awesome Metal, there are no other words to describe it, nor is there a need to get over-explain something so excellent. I could go on for days trying to describe it but sometimes it is good to keep it simple; German, Traditional Metal, Massacre Records….Gloryful!!